Some restaurants have fantastic views that take your breath away; others are cozy, the perfect place for a romantic evening. Bambara blasted onto Salt Lake's dining scene by turning the historic and stodgy Continental Bank offices into something futuristic.

More than four years later, you can still feel the energy cooking inside Bambara the moment you walk in the door. The restaurant's whimsical spiral trademark, instantly recognizable in its logo, is replayed over and over within its perimeter: in the multicolored carpet, on the burgundy and gold upholstered booths, in massive swirling ironworks framing high-reaching windows, and even close at hand, in the unique spiraled silverware.

And in the center of the restaurant, again setting it apart from the crowd, is a slightly elevated "exhibition kitchen," where the cook staff can be seen putting together many of the menu's dishes. (As business slows, they also can be seen yawning and looking bored, which might not be so good.)

The design elements have been at Bambara since the beginning. Fresh to the restaurant is a new chef, Robert Barker, who assumed the toque last summer, but introduced his own menu only a few months ago.

With Texas roots and New Orleans influences, most notably as executive sous chef at Emeril's, in addition to stints in several of Wolfgang Puck's establishments, Barker's influence at Bambara promised to be interesting. A couple of recent visits offered some insight.

We started with a menu holdover and Bambara favorite: blue cheese house-cut potato chips, that were hot out of the fryer, crunchy and delicious topped with crumbled, tangy cheese. A basket of fresh bread and bowl of hummus was delivered next, and quickly devoured. First to disappear was the flat bread, impressive in appearance and flavor, and perfect with the creamy hummus, but soon to follow its demise was leavened bread with a nice crumbly texture and hint of lemon flavor.

A handful of delicious salads, priced a la carte from $6.50 to $7.50, are a nice transition before dinner, with choices including mixed greens with pear and feta, classic Caesar or a wedge of bibb lettuce with roasted red pepper, kalamata olives and feta with a yogurt-dill dressing.

The variety of items on the dinner menu is impressive, with shrimp, salmon or scallops for fish-lovers; a meatless artichoke ravioli with asparagus and wild mushrooms; Morgan Valley rack of lamb, chicken, pork and a couple of steak choices. Since we had previously tried Barker's strip loin steak at lunch (definitely a splurge at $15) and decided it was one of the best we have ever tasted, with lots of pepper on the outside and a melt-in-your-mouth finish, we decided to try the dinner menu's New York strip with a slightly different preparation, this time for $25.

True to his Texas tradition, this guy grills a mean steak.

Both steaks came with roasted potatoes, which were certainly good. The dinner also came with haricots verts, otherwise known as deliciously fresh and skinny green beans, which are a nice addition. My single complaint about the lunch version was that it was only meat and potatoes. It begged for something green, or at least colorful, on the plate.

The dinner steak also was served with a homemade Worcestershire sauce, which was good, but not as tasty as the excellent cabernet-rosemary demiglaze that accompanied the lunch steak.

A dried cherry port wine sauce adorning the sautéed Muscovy duck breast also was delicious, as was the flavorful meat, sliced and fanned out around delectable bourbon mashed sweet potatoes.

Another nice choice was a generous serving of prawns, sautéed and served over fettuccine with a light sauce of fresh tomato, parmesan and truffle butter.

The spicy shrimp served at lunch on a Southern-style po' boy sandwich also was excellent, garnished with coleslaw and a piquant chipotle ketchup ($12). More economical, but still pricey, was the tasty and filling turkey wrap ($8.50).

Happily, service at Bambara was excellent on both visits, a welcome improvement over previous experiences at the restaurant.

Chef Barker has put his mark on Bambara, adding some spice with several menu additions and making a first visit or return appearance to the downtown diner worth the price of admission.

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Nancy Hobbs is The Tribune's restaurant reviewer. The newspaper covers the cost of meals at restaurants reviewed and there is no connection between reviews and restaurant advertising. Hobbs welcomes food and wine news, comments and suggestions at nhobbs@xmission.com

Bambara